Free trips to Hawaii: Signs of still-hard times

may be up, but you’d be hard pressed to tell that from the continuing flood of travel deals meant to entice visitors to return to Hawai’i. And the best bargains of all, of course, would be the free trips currently being offered by the major players in the biz.

Marriott Hawai’i, for example, is going all out with social media to stir up interest in travel to the islands, tied to the 50th anniversary of statehood. The winner of an online video contest, in which entries must first be posted on YouTube, will receive a seven-night trip for 12, including Hawaiian Airlines tickets from the Mainland, a private lu’au and a stay at one of five participating Marriott Resorts, among other amenities.

Videographers have got till Dec. 20 to put that together, but less creative types can simply enter a good old-fashioned (but still online) drawing at www.mariotthawaiitweets.com. A total of 25 winners will receive a free five-night trip (flying Hawaiian, staying at a Marriott, plus Hertz rental car), with drawings Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday through Oct. 23. Use your e-mail, Twitter and/or Facebook accounts to enter — the latter two will of course prompt alerts to be sent out to your contacts. (Definitely read the fine print to determine how much privacy you’d like to keep.)

The Marriott Hawai’i contests are part of its “Tweet Yourself to Hawai’i” promotion, which includes “tweetups” in West Coast cities. San Francisco’s turn is Sunday, Sept. 13. I’m not really sure what’s going to happen, but I suspect more giveaways may be involved; sign up on Twitter to follow @marriotthawaii if you’re really curious, or follow me at @hawaii_insider (or check out twitter.com/marriotthawaii or twitter.com/hawaii_insider).

Hawaiian Airlines, by the way, has two more round-trip tickets between the Mainland and Hawai’i to give away in its weekly online contest tied to its 80th anniversary; six have been awarded so far. This is actually a fun game to play, even if you don’t score a trip: You’re shown a series of flight attendant uniforms from different decades — including some really wild styles from the ’60s and ’70s — and asked to identify the year they were introduced in a multiple choice quiz. (To make it easy, additional hints such as “the year Bill Clinton took office” are included.)

To enter, go to www.celebrate80.hawaiianairlines.com ; you’ll need to sign up for a free Hawaiian Miles account at the end if you don’t already have one. (While some people may not want to sign up for a frequent flier account, it’s a good way to get e-mail alerts of otherwise unadvertised specials.)

Officially, these are contests celebrating special anniversaries, but you could also look at them as signs of still-hard times: If the travel companies can’t raise their profits, at least they can raise their online profile till the economy turns around.

And if you’re lucky enough to be a winner, please spread around some cash, along with aloha, when you get there. Paradise definitely isn’t free for those who live and work there.